Install Mingw, msys & build tools

Together MinGW & msys provide a unix-style shell environment & compiler suite for windows. Read the instructions at the MinGW site for more info. MinGW now provides an installer to get most of the system up and running quickly. Download the installer and make sure you select "C++ Compiler". "MSYS Basic System" & "MinGW Developer Toolkit" when prompted.

Once the installer has completed, open the msys shell (under Programs > MinGW) and install some additional packages:

Install Git

Git is used to checkout (and commit) the ola sources. See http://code.google.com/p/msysgit/, be sure to select "checkout as is, commit unix style" during the install otherwise you'll get autoconf errors.

Add the following line to your .bashrc file so that git can be used within msys: